Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox counter-sues over failed North American expansion

Mt. Gox, the largest exchange for trading the crypto-currency known as Bitcoin, is demanding its one-time partner CoinLab return cash and Bitcoins, and also surrender $5 million worth of customer funds that CoinLab is allegedly sitting on. The accusations by Tokyo-based Mt. Gox come in response to a $75 million lawsuit that CoinLab filed in May over the breakdown of a strategic partnership in which the two firms planned to create Bitcoin brokerages in the United States and Canada. The partnership was supposed to make it easier for U.S. customers to convert Bitcoins into U.S. dollars. CoinLab, however, sued after Mt. Gox allegedly reneged on its promise to provide passwords and account information about North American clients. In response, Mt. Gox has shot back with claims that the contract between the companies is void on the grounds that CoinLab couldn’t deliver on a fund...